I swear I don't mean to keep starting new stories, I just can't help myself when I get an idea in my head and want to write about it. I mean, I have 10+ story ideas on my profile and keep adding more, but for stuff like this, I want to write it, so I just...kinda do.

Big point, this isn't canonical. Ruby is a little more rude here, she's been hardened by the fact that Qrow died protecting her from Tyrian. And Salem in canon would not do even 1% of the stuff she's done in this story already. She'd just as soon pluck out Ruby's eyes herself if given the chance.

BEWARE: This chapter has some torture, kinda for the sake of torture. It does also act like a plot-point, but it's mostly because Emerald is kinda like me...a bit of a psycho bitch. If you don't like torture, don't read this story, please. Seriously, don't.

Also, before any of you get bitchy at me, I will freely admit the torture in this chapter also stemmed from me needing to vent my sadism before it leaked into my other stories.

LAST THING: There is an announcement and explanation about what's going on with me in my profile, so if you could give that a read, that'd be cool, cheers!

Anyway, on with the chapter...

Chapter 2

It was a silent room.

The girl, bound to a chair in the centre of the room, offered no greeting to the one who just entered, merely remaining still and silent. Ever since she'd awoken, her eyes had been covered, her arms and legs bound as well, and while her mouth was no longer gagged, the young huntress saw no reason to bother with being courteous, her mind still refusing to acknowledge much which was discussed previously.

"But..." The voice, strikingly familiar to Ruby, randomly stated, prompting Ruby to raise her head in its direction. "...Certainly."

Footsteps announced their approach, and Ruby waited, listening as each step brought them closer, until hands found themselves on either side of her head, wrenching the blindfold from her eyes and exposing her vision to the blinding light.

Blearily blinking her vision back, Ruby had to hold back both a gasp and a laugh at the sight before her. Despite attempting to appear strong, Ruby immediately picked up on just how wounded the woman in front of her was, scarring across half of her face and her arm missing completely.

Despite this, Ruby could easily recognise the face of the bitch who killed her friend. Cinder Fall had definitely seen better days if the fact she was leaning against Mercury was any indication.

"Wow, I really did a number on you, huh?" Ruby asked with a smirk, still wincing slightly at the brightness in the room. Her smirk fell though when she saw that Cinder had a smirk of her own on her face, and Ruby was about to ask what she found so amusing when the room vanished into darkness again, though Ruby knew the girl, who Ruby now realized was Emerald, hadn't blinded her with whatever had her eyes covered last time, she would have felt it. Of course, despite knowing this, Ruby couldn't help but shudder at the sudden blindness, like her eyes had just switched off suddenly.

Throwing her head around, Ruby couldn't see or hear any sign of the other inhabitants. Squinting hard into the darkness, Ruby shrugged to herself, or at least as well as her bindings would allow, when she saw nothing but black.

That is...until she heard the growling. Twisting her head around, Ruby finally saw the first thing since the darkness encompassed the room, a pair of bright-red orbs glaring at her. Shifting in place, Ruby once again attempted to free herself, straining against her bindings and drawing blood, anything to get away from the white claws she could now see rearing up.

As the claws sliced through her arm like butter, Ruby threw her mouth open and screamed.

Cinder...wasn't quite sure how she felt right now.

Seeing the brat who injured her so much, almost ruining her plans in the process, bound and helpless before her, brought a mild wave of euphoria through the woman.

But, when Emerald trapped her in an illusion, with her kama poised to begin slicing at her body to really sell the illusion Ruby was now being tormented by, Cinder frowned. She wasn't feeling quite as victorious as she wanted to. Watching the girls kama slicing through Ruby's arm, Cinder turned to leave, pondering just why she didn't feel the way she expected, ignoring the agonized screaming of the redhead, as Emerald continued slicing away at the girl who dared to injure her master in such a way, carving her blades across her body and leaving a bloody crisscross of wounds, a bloodied tapestry.

"I did warn you, Cinder."

The calm voice of her master called down the corridor, freezing Cinder and Mercury in place. Striding out from her position at the side of the corridor, Salem smirked at the deer in headlights look Cinder had adopted. "I told you that you would find no victory in hurting her. You know, deep down, that the only reason she fought you was that she didn't understand you. To her, you had just killed one of her close friends, and in retaliation, her powers took your eye and your limb. Blaming her for that would be like blaming yourself for burning your way out of your little 'problems'."

Striding past a still stunned Cinder, Salem walked briskly towards the muffled sounds of screaming, ignoring Cinder in favour of attempting to call her pet off before she went too far and killed the damn girl.

Throwing open the door, Salem, in her many years, could safely say that the state she found Ruby in was surprising, even to her. She was no stranger to torture, but the girl who hung before her was a step further than even Tyrian's best handiwork. Open wounds littered her body, adorning her arms and legs, with her left arm being stabbed through by Emerald's blade then left there, while her torso was no better. Her clothing hung on by shreds, her modesty completely lost, the only function her tattered apparel granted was to soak up a tiny portion of the blood seeping out into the growing puddle beneath her.

But the worst part was her face. It was clear Emerald had definitely taken her masters injury to heart, if the bloodied socket which used to be her left eye was any indication.

"Leave us." The woman announced sharply to Emerald, who shrunk from the glare levelled when she opened her mouth to defend herself. Like a rat from a sinking ship, Emerald darted from the room quick as a flash, wrenching her blade out of Ruby as she passed, drawing another, though quieter, scream from the girl, leaving Salem to sigh at the blood dripping to the floor. Turning her attention to the girl, hanging limply from the ceiling with ropes around her arms, the chair left forgotten in the corner, Salem frowned.

Raising her head to the newcomer, Ruby had to wink a few times before her vision focused enough to reveal just what was stood in front of her, and Ruby closed her eye with a sigh. "Cinder, that one got old fast." She croaked out.

"I assure you, I'm not one of Sustrai's illusions, nor did I condone...this." Salem said, gesturing towards Ruby with a grimace. "To be honest, I believe the only ones who would condone this would be Emerald herself, and Tyrian, though I'm sure you can imagine why."

Opening her eye, Ruby stared at the woman for a few moments. "W-Wait, so you're actually Salem?" Ruby asked, her mouth opening in surprise when Salem smiled and nodded gently. "I thought she was just lying about how you looked!" Ruby exclaimed, coughing up blood when her throat caught, feeling like somebody had rubbed sandpaper down it from all the screaming she'd done, and she spat out the contents, careful to not spit towards the woman who stood nearby, her face impassive, though Ruby noted the slight tightening of her eyes when Ruby turned her head away, giving her a full view of her missing eye.

"I assure you, while I may look like a Grimm, I didn't allow their tendencies to affect me." Snapping her fingers, Salem drew a Seer to her, ordering it to bring some refreshments for her prisoner, which it did quickly, as well as Watts with some medical supplies, before turning her attention back to the dangling girl, who stared back in surprise. "What?" She asked, quirking an eyebrow when Ruby, despite her situation and the obvious pain she was in, chuckled at her, though she began coughing again at the minor sound.

Rubbing her chin, Salem tilted the girl's head back slightly, raising the drink the Seer had brought and watching the girl eagerly drink it down with a smirk. When the glass was empty, Salem released her head, letting the girl roll her neck around a little before focusing her silver eyes upon her once again.

"Emerald tried to make me see you as a bad person, y'know? She made the illusion of you attack me a few times, then made you monologue to me. You should tell her that she really doesn't have your mannerisms down though, I know you don't talk like she made you speak, at least to me." Ruby said with a smile, giggling at the perplexed expression on the woman's face. "She made you go on this big rant about how I should be eradicated, how my remaining Silver Eye would be plucked out and fed to the Beowolves, and a whole bunch of other stupid bullshit. That's kinda the whole reason I figured out that she was just using illusions on me. When it was just Beowolves slicing at me, I couldn't tell the difference, but as soon as she tried to use you, it kinda fell apart."

"Well, I suppose Cinder will have to discipline her for that." Salem said casually, grabbing the chair and placing it below Ruby, guiding her feet to it and ensuring she was stable atop it, before slicing out with a casual wave, cutting through the ropes holding her to the ceiling and watching as she slowly stepped off the chair, before slumping onto it and going limp, shaking her arms out in front of her and wincing at the raw and bloody red marks wrapped around her wrists from the ropes holding her entire weight.

As she reached out with one hand to touch the area the ropes had held her, Salem snapped her own hand up, staying Ruby's probing touch from her wounds and shaking her head. "I wouldn't play around with your wounds, Watts will be here soon to patch you up, I wouldn't want you to bleed out or die from an infection."

Slumping back into her chair, Ruby frowned. "I don't get it." She stated bluntly.

"What part of this all don't you understand, child?" Salem asked, quirking an eyebrow when Ruby shrugged and waved around the room.

"Any of this. Why do you need me? Why do you even care about what happens to me? I mean, Emerald was pretty stupid to say the things she did, especially about how Cinder should just run me through for costing her so much, but she never told me why you are so damn interested in me."

Chuckling, Salem ran her hand across Ruby's jaw, watching the girl fight her natural instinct for leaning into the gentle touch, and managed to keep her head still. "That's both a simple and a complicated question to answer. I need you to then to get to Ozma and speak with him, since he trusts you, whereas he would sooner run a blade through the heart of any of my other pawns before they could say a word to placate him. Since you are one of the very last Silver-Eyed warriors left on Remnant, he would likely stay his hand from killing you. At least...until he has answers."

"However, I also have a burning question I want...answered. While I cannot just force this upon you to satiate my own curiosity, despite what Ozma may spread about me, I am not quite so heartless as to do this without consent in any case. To my knowledge, the only being to ever survive entering a pool of darkness...is myself, turning me into what I am now." Salem them reached her hand out to Ruby's cheek, placing her thumb under her remaining eye. "And that was because I was imbued with power from the God of Light."

Opening her mouth, Ruby was about to question what Salem was asking of her, but a finger across her lips halted that. "Your eyes, or eye now I suppose, are a descendant gift from the same God who granted me my own 'gift'. I would like to see whether you would also survive the ordeal. But, what you must understand is that I do not want you to do this unwillingly. If you don't wish to test this, I shall accept that answer, though I will still ask that you follow my...request to meet with Ozma and give him my side of the argument."

"Wait, you want me to see if I can change into something similar to you? But why?" Ruby asked, frowning when Salem chuckled. "What?"

"Oh, excuse me, it's just amusing. I do so forget how young you are sometimes. This is mostly my own curiosity, truly. I simply want to see if you survive it. And, if you do survive, just picture it. Ozma's silver-eyed warrior turned into a Grimm hybrid, but still fighting for what she believes in, even he can't dispute that. And I'm sure your family and friend would still accept you for who you are, damn the consequences. Though I would warn you to avoid any 'party invitations' from your Schnee partner."

"I...Uh...I don't know. I want to trust you...but your actions don't exactly help. First, you have Tyrian fight me, knock me unconscious and bring me here. Then you reprimand him for hurting me when captive and talk with me about you and Ozpin's past. Then you let Cinder come here, where she sets her pet on me, torturing me and taking one of my fucking eyes!" Ruby's voice had been slowly rising, and reached a crescendo at her last point, making Salem wince. "Then you say you didn't condone it despite how stupid that sounds, nor did Cinder enjoy it, though the smirk on her face when she looked at me makes that fucking hard to believe, and now you want me to see if I can turn myself into a Half-Grimm hybrid like you..."

"Tyrian having to knock you out to bring you here was regrettable, but the order I gave him was only to bring you here alive and intact. I should have been stricter on making sure you were as unharmed as possible, but you have to agree, you would never come willingly here, not with him. Hazel, you would perhaps listen to, he is a far kinder soul than the others, but I wasn't willing to gamble this on your willingness to listen to him. Now, Cinder asked to visit you, and I accepted her request. When I passed her in the hallway when she left, she didn't exactly seem happy with what she saw."

Salem stopped there, and when Ruby went to question her, she merely shook her head, stepping back and opening the door, to reveal a stunned Watts with his hand poised to knock on the door. "Treat her, see what can be done about her missing eye, and when she is able to move, send her to me. I shall be at the overlook."

When Watts nodded his agreement, Salem cast a last look over her shoulder at Ruby, allowing a very faint, sad smile to appear before hiding it back under her emotionless visage, leaving the room quickly and striding down the corridor, leaving Ruby to stare at Watts.

"Well, I see Cinder's little pet hasn't lost any of her skill against a helpless opponent." The man said whilst unpacking things from his case, prompting Ruby to giggle at him, surprising the man. "You Hunters will always confuse me. How you can laugh like that when you are clearly in agony is beyond me."

"I can laugh because I want to laugh, the pain doesn't matter." Ruby chirped, wincing when the nasty rope wounds on her wrists made themselves known again. "Well, not enough to stop me. Anyway, what you said was funny, why shouldn't I laugh?" She asked honestly, not missing the utter confusion on the man's face. "The thought that Emerald can only fight against an enemy who can't even fight back. In a one on one fight, she'd beat anybody who doesn't have a good way to do area suppression because of her semblance. And of course, she seemed happy enough to fucking torture me when I couldn't fight back." She growled her last sentence, glaring at the closed door.

Humming his agreement, Watts began pointing out different injuries and informing Ruby of what would happen with them. Most of them would heal up just fine, leaving only faint scars. A few were too deep or too jagged to heal up properly and would leave far more noticeable scarring, though Ruby didn't seem to honestly care too much about that.

But, tilting Ruby's head back and looking closely at the socket her left eye was in, even Watts knew it would be a little beyond his expertise to fix, not without lots of neurological implants and a bio-mechanical eye. Oh, he so wished he were able to use his labs. To experiment with his things again and be able to fulfil the Queen's wishes, not because he wanted to fix the girl, obviously.

With a sigh, he released Ruby's chin, not missing the pretty apathetic look the Huntress gave him. "It's forever, isn't it?" She asked simply, her remaining eye dulling slightly when he grimaced and nodded at her. "Great."

"While the injury itself is permanent, that doesn't mean that, with the Queen's permission, of course, I won't be able to put together an artificial eye for you. Unfortunately, I have not the equipment, nor the raw material, nor even the time to craft such an item at this time." Watts said honestly.

Shrugging, Ruby turned away from the doctor and towards the door to her room. "Whatever, thanks for patching me up Watts. I guess let's go to this 'overlook' then." And with that, Ruby stood up, wobbled for a few moments as her legs woke up again, then made her way shakily towards the door, grimacing with each step.

Frowning, Watts stared at the girl. He fully expected to have to ask a Beowolf to carry the girl to the Queen, she had cuts all over her legs, and several were dangerously close to slicing through her Achilles tendon, which would undoubtedly be agony to walk with. But, the girl seemed determined to walk under her own strength, so Watts would allow it, if only to see just how far she would make it under her own strength. "I do have one request for you...Ruby." The man tried the name, uncomfortable as he was to address someone like her so familiarly. "I would ask that you warn me if you feel the symptoms of Hypovolemic Shock setting in."

"Uhh...?" Ruby stumbled lightly over her own feet when she turned around to look at him, missing the momentary surprise on his face when she almost tripped, instead only seeing his frown.

"Please don't tell me you've never even been told about Hypovolemic shock?" He asked, almost face-palming at the sheer stupidity of the situation. "Blood loss, do you know the symptoms for blood loss?" He used the more common terminology, sighing in relief when Ruby nodded. "Good. If you start getting symptoms, please do inform me, I'd rather not have to fix you after you collapse."

"Sure, thanks Doc!" She chirped, wincing when she jumped slightly, and this time didn't miss the aggravation crossing his face. "Uhh, sorry?"

"Sorry doesn't keep wounds closed. Do be more careful, I would hate for your meeting with the Queen to be postponed because you bounced around like a...hyperactive child and bled out from re-opening your wounds." Watts could only stare at the girl as she gave him a rather sloppy salute, though the small smirk on her face made it clear she was just playing around with him.

The pair walked through the halls of the castle in silence after that, only breaking it for gasps and obvious statements like "woah" or "cool" coming from the red-haired huntress whenever she saw anything vaguely interesting, like a Seer floating about, or Beowolves calmly patrolling the hallways. Such sights, Watts had to admit, were rather interesting upon first inspection, but after a while, they lose their glamour, becoming just another sight to see, like a car passing by, or a Bullhead flying in the sky.

For Ruby though, seeing 'friendly' Grimm stood a few feet from her was probably one of the coolest things, and only her wounds, and the fact Salem had made it clear she was waiting for them, stopped her clambering all over the Beowolf in excitement and asking Watts a million questions.

...Of course, she still asked the man as many questions as she could while they walked, ignoring his exasperation in favour of learning everything she could about the Grimm from the man, though it was clear he was being careful not to reveal too much. Whenever she asked about how they were so docile, he only smirked at her. He could keep his secrets then, and Ruby instead directed the questions elsewhere.

With little fanfare, Watts gestured towards a pair of Seers floating gently on either side of a pair of massive doors, and Ruby watched them wrap their tendrils around the handles and slowly pull the doors open, revealing Salem, her back to them, looking over the outside world. And what a sight it was. Ruby almost tripped herself up just gawking at the land before her.

The sky was black, and the clouds were red. The moon hung low in the sky, almost as though it were wary to be seen in that land for too long, though Ruby shook the strange thought away. The ground was a dull red, though Ruby assumed that was from the strange light, which bathed everything in a tint of red. But, what truly drew the eye was two things. First, there were gigantic crystals of purple jutting out all across the land, acting almost like the flora the region didn't have, gently glowing and filling the area.

But, it was the purely opaque black pools before them which really drew Ruby's attention. It almost looked like a group of spilt viscous oil patches, how each pool slightly bulged up from the edge, giving the impression of small invisible walls holding back the liquid. Occasionally a bubble would form and burst, almost like the pools were chemically reacting with their surroundings. And, as a white claw broke the surface of one of the pools, Ruby realized just what purpose the pools served.

Watching with bated breath, the claw sunk into the ground beside its pool, hauling itself up from the pure darkness and revealing the form of a Beowolf. For a moment, as the Grimm turned towards them, Ruby flinched, her fingers instinctively reaching for her scythe and cursing quietly as fingers clasped empty air. Turning towards them, the Grimm quirked its head to the side, nodded gently towards Salem, and began stomping away from them.

"Well...that...that was...I've got nothing." Ruby admitted with a shrug, her eye tracking the Beowolf as it disappeared past a crystal.

"Believe me, all my followers had much the same reaction to the Grimm Pools. It is one thing to be told about this, another entire to see a Grimm being born into the world. Now, I must stress this Ruby, this is something I wish you to do willingly. I won't lie and say this is entirely just my benevolence. If you feel obligated or coerced into this, you will likely be corrupted by the liquid, lose your sanity and become a feral beast. You have to be entering entirely of your own volition." Salem punctuated this by gripping her shoulder, forcing the girl's gaze away from the bubbling black ooze and to her eyes.

"I...I don't like it, but...I still want to do it. I want to be able to trust you. If what you said is true, and I come out of that stuff looking like you, then hey, if it means that it'd both give me some legitimacy with Ozpin, whilst at the same time my eye, and the fact it's me, would mean he won't just kill me, right?"

Releasing her grasp on Ruby, Salem turned back to the largest and closest pool, frowning at it. "While that is true, you must still give this more consideration. This-" She waved a hand at the black mass before her, "-could do anything. I could be incorrect, and it will merely disintegrate you entirely, since while you have the gift of your eyes, it is likely not as strong as my own gift. It could completely superimpose itself upon your will, turning you into a Grimm human under my control. Knowing this, do you still feel the same way?"

Crossing her arms, Ruby just looked at Salem with a small smile. "It's worth a shot, isn't it? Besides, who ever got anywhere without being a bit reckless? If I wasn't reckless, I wouldn't have defeated a giant nevermore in initiation!"

"Ahh yes, I recall that battle actually, it was rather amusing to watch." Salem casually remarked, making Ruby freeze.

"You uhh...saw that?" Ruby asked, rubbing the back of her head when Salem nodded at her with a smirk.

"Yes, there are always Seers hiding somewhere nearby to observe Ozpin's precious initiations. It wouldn't do to be unaware of the future generations and their abilities. I must say, your ability to plan that combination attack on the fly was a refreshing thing to watch. Now, as much as we may enjoy thinking on the past, I would like to begin, if you are ready?"

"Ready as I've ever be." Ruby muttered, following Salem down a carved set of stairs towards the pool she had gestured towards, each step both exciting and worrying her. Stepping into the plateau, Ruby took a quick moment to glance around, marvelling at the sheer beauty such a place had. Sure, it wasn't conventional beauty like Forever Fall with its beautiful red trees endlessly in fall, but it was still pretty to look at nonetheless.

Looking then to the black pools, Ruby frowned at them before unclasping her cloak, folding it and placing it gently, almost reverently on the ground, smirking at the sight of very small marks in the cloak, the only evidence of Emerald's attempts to slice the material. Then, as Salem waved towards the pool, Ruby took a breath, then two, before stepping forwards, and without more pre-amble, leapt straight into the all-encompassing darkness...

Ruby frowned when she tried to describe some of the new feelings she had. Most intrusively, Ruby could only describe it as a presence in the back of her mind, not quite compelling her, it wasn't influential enough upon her to do such a thing, but Ruby could feel that mind, just as it could feel her. For Salem, the experience of another intelligent being joining her in the connection to the Grimm was something she'd never experienced, the God of Darkness relinquishing all of his control upon his departure, leaving Salem to be the sole influencer. Gently prodding with her mind, Salem could feel the willpower and intelligence which held her control away, a far cry from the mindless obedience all Grimm gave her, and Salem found the entire experience to be rather...exciting.

For Ruby, the experience was a lot more nerve-wracking. Alongside the new abnormal feeling, she could feel...anger. All-encompassing and mind-bending anger. Anger at Tyrian for killing her Uncle. Anger at Salem for being the Queen of the Grimm. Anger at Summer, Tai, Yang, Blake, Weiss, JNPR, everyone who came to mind, her own mind conjured up a reason to be angry, even if it was unreasonable.

Thinking back on what Salem had told her earlier, about how she managed to keep the emotions the darkness put upon her at bay, Ruby grit her teeth, forcing herself to think of happier moments, the food fight of RWBY vs JNPR, Weiss handing her coffee and vowing to be a great teammate, Summer baking her cookies, Qrow training her. After that, Ruby pushed herself further, her mind finding little details in what Salem spoke of, finding reasons to not hate the woman who just wanted to bring her long life to an end. Tyrian...well, in her mind Tyrian was less redeemable, but to her credit, Ruby still tried to see the best in him, eventually giving up and chalking it up to him being insane. Which he kind of was, though Ruby wasn't sure how he could lose his sanity and still remain so lucid occasionally.

Watching Ruby fight the emotional manipulation of the Grimm liquid, Salem took a moment to take in the new appearance of the girl. Unlike her own transformation, her clothing, if the scraps of cloth she had left after Emerald's torture could be called clothing, was not destroyed by the pool of darkness. Why the clothes she went in with didn't immediately melt away, Salem honestly could not say. Her hair was seemingly also unaffected, black with red tips. But the girl herself was definitely changed.

Far from the tanned skin she had entered with, her skin was now far more reminiscent of the Queen's, a pallid white. Her skin below her neck had black lines running seemingly at random across her body like branches, and forming what looked like a thick choker of darkness around her throat. And, while her left eye was covered by her hair, her right eye still looked back just as fiercely as before, not quite glaring but still clearly angry, though she could see the girl quickly tempering her emotions, and her gaze softened more and more. The pure and endless Silver was completely unmarred, but black was visible in the rest of her eye, forming around the silver much in the same way Salem's eyes were black around her red eyes.

Dark veins ran up her left cheek to her hidden eye socket, and Salem stepped forward to brush the lock of hair away from her eye, stepping back with a hand to her mouth in surprise.

Looking back at her from the previously empty space was a pure-black eye, with the same red iris and pupil Salem's own eye had. Seeing the now heterochromia eyes made Salem smirk, as she took another step back to compare the girl who stood before her with the one Tyrian brought to her. While it was far too soon to say it with certainty, Salem allowed herself a small moment of elation at the differences visible in the one before her. And, as she stepped from the darkness onto the ground and scooped her cloak up, throwing it upon her shoulders and clasping it in place, Salem smiled. While Ruby walked over to Watts, pointing a finger at her new eye and chirped something about biomechanics, Salem whispered quietly to herself, closing her eyes...

"Soon...it'll be over soon..."

Yay, Ruby is now a Grimm Hybrid. And, before you ask, I didn't actually plan on replacing her eye when Emerald sliced it out, that was just something I came up with when writing her Grimm appearance.

Also...I don't know now...do I call it there, a nice short story, or keep going...for now I'll leave it in progress, but I might call it complete to focus on other projects.